Special Features

GameSpy's Best of E3 2011 Awards

Special Awards

French designer Michel Ancel's always-cute and charming Rayman series of platformers always had a unique visual style, dating all the way back to the first game on the original PlayStation. Even though we were expecting Rayman Origins to look great, we were blown away by just how beautiful it looks. Featuring bright, quasi-hand-painted 2D backgrounds and beautifully rendered characters, this is one of those rare games we couldn't take our eyes off.

This may not be a big surprise, as Battlefield 3 has been pushed as the best-looking game of this generation (so far) since it was first unveiled several months ago. Still, it was hard not to walk away impressed by just how great developer DICE's new Frostbite 2 engine makes everything look. It probably doesn't hurt that the game was most likely running on a PC powerful enough that it might better be classified as a supercomputer, but we have a sneaking suspicion that this will be a great-looking game no matter what the platform.

The folks at Stockholm-based developer DICE have always been known as hardcore audio junkies, a fact that was made all the more apparent once we slipped on our headphones for a rousing match of Battlefield 3 multiplayer. Right off the bat, as the cracks of sniper rifles filled the air and bullets whizzed by our virtual ears, we knew we were in for something special. Things got even more insane once the battle went underground, as the ear-splitting cacophony of gunfire in a subway tunnel made our hearts pound and our palms sweat. It may not be real war, but it sure sounds like it.

Some of us thought it would be tough for Epic Games to improve upon Gears of War 2's addictive Horde mode, but, sure enough, the North Carolina-based developer proved us wrong in a big way. While the new-and-improved Horde mode still lets up to five players take out wave after wave of enemies, it's now more akin to a tower defense game than a straight-up action-shooter. Earning in-game currency for kills allows you to purchase and upgrade things like turrets and barbed-wire barricades, adding some welcome strategy to an already fun game mode. Epic, when you can get five strangers to hoot and holler like old friends, you know you've done something right.

For many first-person shooter fans, DICE is synonymous with awesomely addictive multiplayer (sorry, Call of Duty fans), and it delivers the goods once again with Battlefield 3. While we didn't see any new game types or drive in any vehicles at E3, the changes made to some of the franchise's signature classes gave us high hopes for Battlefield 3's longevity. The Assault and Medic classes have been merged? The Support class actually does what its name suggests? Sniping as the Recon class actually requires more skill and patience than ever? Yes, yes, and (an emphatic) yes. Sign us up!

"We're making an Aliens game! We're making an Aliens game!" Gearbox's Randy Pitchford seemed to have said this phrase at least a dozen times during the 20-minute E3 presentation of Aliens: Colonial Marines, so it's impossible to deny that the man's passionate about this project. He's got good reason, as it looks like this will be one of the best Aliens games to come down the pipe since those great ones from the mid-1990s. Yes, Gearbox, you're making an Aliens game... and we're already looking forward to playing it.

The two big technological showpieces of E3 -- Sony's PlayStation Vita and Nintendo's Wii U -- were big surprises in what they brought to the table, but the Vita has the edge here: The PSP successor is a sleek, well-made little machine that effectively acts as a portable PlayStation 3. While we still have plenty of key questions (most pertinently about the system's battery live and media format), we're suitably impressed with what we've seen. The $250 price tag pits the system directly against Nintendo's ailing 3DS, and we have every reason to believe that the Vita might finally pose some real competition for the Big N.

Unflappable, cocksure action-archaeologist Lara Croft expresses much vulnerability and inexperience in Tomb Raider's impending continuity reboot, which humanizes the formerly Teflon-coated obtainer of rare antiquities via a gritty, dark-edged origin story. Shipwrecked on a mysterious island with her grizzled old mentor and minimal supplies, Lara must learn to tame her environment if she is to survive. This is not the agile, aristocratic Lady Croft of Tomb Raiders past; this younger Lara expresses fear and uncertainty in the face of danger, swears and sweats at tense and deadly situations, and takes her lumps like never before. This amazing trailer gives us a glimpse into the series of events that gave everyone's favorite action girl her guns.